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Online Security

These are a collection of posts about how I took charge and greatly strengthened my online security. Although this topic may seem odd for this website, it really is an extension of reducing risk and doing the best you can with incomplete information. With online security, the goal isn’t to become invincible, but to be a much more difficult target and to contain the damage should one of your accounts becomes hacked.

I’m not a security expert. These posts were researched and assembled using the advice from security professionals. Security is an ongoing battle. I expect as the years progress, the tactics we use to defend our accounts will change.

Scan, Encrypt, Store, Delete, Shred: Going Paperless! – For my an entire adult life, I’ve had this box of papers. On those papers were accounts, account numbers, tax returns and my Social Security Number. I imagined those papers being destroyed or stolen and I got chills. So I did something about it.

My Online Password Strategy (2014) – I used to not have a clue how many accounts I had online and I had trouble recalling which password I used for which site. Not anymore. Now I know I have 268 online accounts and each one has a unique password that even I don’t know.

Even More Security – Mobile security and how to increase your response time should one of your accounts be hacked.

Securing My Email Inbox – This post addresses reducing risk should someone malicious gain access to your email account. Part 2 has some more ideas that add additional layers of security to your most sensitive accounts, including how to setup those security questions banks ask you in a way nobody knows the answer.